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ADDRESS 


oelivkrsd bkforb the . 

IDroUibencc $I^^onation of 


MECHANICS AND MANUFACTURERS, 

APRIL 9, 1810: 


BEING 


k 


THE ANNJrERSART OF THE CHOICE OF OFFICERS 


IN TUC 



9tS€ociatiOtt 




BV JOHN HOWLAND, ESQ. 

SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION. 




PROVIDENCE: 

J^rom the Press of Jones JFheeler^ 

iSlO. 






f 


rnoriDE^’CE, Afrii 9 ??, x?r#. 


Tf!F. Commitfe^ of Arr»flgeracnt«, rufeu»r.t to a vtt* 

# 

cf the A^Mciation xinaoimc^siy psj«ed thit c*«y * prcvrl to you tht 
th.'nki of the AssocucIod fnr your very ingciiiuuc ai'd appropriate 
Address thli day delivered before them, and rc»jue5t » copy of 
gizvc for the press. 


Wc aic^ vuy respectfully, your frlei^dt ai^d assocutrt, 

SAMULL PEAKSON. 

A I! i: L A I. L b N , 
jOS^AH LA^VTON, } 
, J*AMES hORK, j 

JOHN C. JEKCK£ 3 ,J 



To JOHN -IIOWLAKD, 21:^ 


Tq the Committee Arra>i^emenU ef thc- 
^ rrovidaice Assoi'iation of Alcehamez 
. ami Manufacturers, 

m ^ 

GENTLtIdEK, 

IN the same spirit of confid-.iice and attachmeftf^ 
to my fe’,lcvr»as 50 ciate$, which induced my compliance with their re- 
to deliver the Address, it is now submitted, at their farther te» 
^uckt, for )>ublieatt>)n. 

Accept, Gi.ucl<niiB, tny assurances of high respect and rrgarl. 


JOHN iiQWlAN^. 

1^1 



• « # 
• • 


'jq-yMu-h 


V 

\ 

■ 

' 

CQ 

¥ 


Mr. President, 

end 

.Brethren of the Association^ 

ALLED to address you cn this 

pleasing Annivcrsiiry, and having in so many 

instances e:cpcricnccd yoyr candor and induU 

•* 

gcnce, I did not feci myself at liberty to decline 
the arduous ofHv^c ; and if any thing I may offer 
should, cither in matter or composition, be 
deemed unworthy the great occasion, the lib*- 
crality'of brother craftsmen, and a just defer¬ 
ence to the gentlemen of the committee whom 
you appointed to designate a member for this 
purpose, \vill induce you at least lightly to cen¬ 
sure them. 

The subjects which present to view as con¬ 
nected with the objects of our institution, are so 
various, and yct so obviously important, that 
they seem almost equally to press upon our at. 
lention, and render it difficult to decide, which 
pf tlicni to make tlic subject cf the% prescivC 





6 


address. I shall, therefore, to relieve myself 
from this perplexity, as they pass in review be- 
fore us, give each of them such a share of at¬ 
tention, as your time and patience may permit. 
The mechanics and manufacturers, being 

brethren of the same family, associated under 
■ our charter for purposes the most laud^ible; 
•and these having been steadily kept in view, 
the experience of more than twenty yeans 
has attested, that the fears and jealousies of ma- 
ny of our fellow-citizens, of secret purposes and 
undefined principles, tending to public disquiet 
or private injury, have not been realized. The 
return of this anniversary, under circumstances 
so auspicious, from the increase of our numbers, 
the state of our funds, and the harmony subsist¬ 
ing among our associates, is a subject of mutu¬ 
al congratulation, and presages the increasing 
usefulness of an institution, which, discarding 

political contentions, combines with its princi* 

• 

pies practical benevolence and social order. 

In fhe infancy of society, before men were 
multiplied upon the earth, the patriarchs, seated 
in a-mild and genial climate, subsisted on tbi^ 
spontaneous productions of nature. Arts were 
not known, I>ccause they were not then neces¬ 
sary : had the state of society required their aid, 
doubUc.ss that w isdom, and strength, and beau- 


p 


7 


t}% derived from the first pair, would have C6rfu 
irTcinded them into existence, and defined their 
lise. At length, when men increased on the 
e*arth, or emigrated to regions less hospitable 
and benign...to regions where labor became ne¬ 
cessary to force the ground to yield the means of 
subsistence to its possessors...THEN rose the 

4 

Mech ANic Arts; and their use or improve • 
Client marked the grades of civ ilization. A peo¬ 
ple destitute of the mechanic arts were compelled 
to seek a scanty subsistence by hunting, and 
gradually lost those divine impressions of wis¬ 
dom and virtue originally stamped on the fath¬ 
ers of our race. In this view, those highly fa¬ 
vored men to whom the world is indebted for 
the useful arts,'-have ever been considered its 
greatest benefactors. In former ages, when the 
true ground of distinction was better under¬ 
stood, the professors of the useful arts were 
ranked as the wise men and the noble; for be¬ 
fore the ground could be sowed or the harvest 
reaped, it was necessary the mechanic should 
make the plough and the sickle. 

To trace the records of ancient times, and 
from tlicm to note the great benefactors of man¬ 
kind, the inventors of the useful arts in difler- 
ent periods and in distant nations^ has been the 
laborious but pleasing task of gentlemen of high 


6 


ittalnmeTits in learning’ and eloquence, at 
several of our annual celebrations have favored 
this society, and done honor to the subject, b/ 
leaving tins path fully explored. W e shall not 
therefore dwell on this part of the subject. 

But in this place it may be most proper to 
notice an error, or rather a mistake so palpable, 
that were it not almost universal, and sanction¬ 
ed by names in high repute, it might seem like 
moments wasted to stay to refute it. *1 he niis- 
takc is this ; that Agriculture constitutes the 
first rank of useful employments...that all other 
arts and employments arc subordinate thereto.., 
that we are exclusively, indebted to agriculture 
for subsistence...that the good old-fashioned 
phrase, v/ e the people, which constitutes the 
basement story from which rises the noble 
structure of our national government, that this 
ineans nothing more or less than we the far^ 
mdTj...that arts, manufactures and commerce^ 
are entitled to neither encouragement or protec¬ 
tion, except as the handmaids of agriculture.— 
All this is political heresy and false doctrine.— 
The savages of the western wilderness could 
• tt ach uk better than this; with them tlic man 
-who makes the bow and arrows is the most hon- 
©rable man of the tribe, and he is commonly the 
sachem; they know the hunter cjuld not 


till tte (!dcf c^ccept he supplied the means. 
r Let an invading enemy determine most elFectii- 
ally to humble and weaken a country he should 
enter, let him cany off the smiths only, and what 
would become of its agriculture ? Tliis experi¬ 
ment was once tried in an eastern nation, and the 
sacred historian informs us, that with forty tlioul 
Siind men that followed Saul there was not found 
either savord or spear ; and that the culti\Titors 
of the soil were obliged to leave their country, 
and repair to the land of their enemies, to sharp¬ 
en each man his share^ his coulter^ his axe^ awd 
his mattock. Do wc mean bv this to sav, that 
the mechanic ranks above the farmer ? We cer¬ 
tainly do not: we contend for no such supe¬ 
riority, for in this we declare there is no first or 
second place. In shewing the importance of the 
mechanic arts, not only to agriculture but to 

A 

philosophy, science and literature, we may ad¬ 
vert for a moment to the state of the natives of 
this country at the time our fathers arrived from 
England, or even to the state of the western 
tribes at the present day, wdio have exchanged 
the bear-skin for the blanket, and learn the value 

of the mechanic arts from those who are desti- 

> 

tute of them. Our ancestors found them with a 
piece of raw hide cut out with a sharp stone, and 
laced about the feet; and this, was obliged to suf¬ 
fice them instead of all the art of tlie tanner, the 

2 


10 


currier, and the cordwaincr, instead of the con- 

venient and comfortable habitations in which we 
• 

dwell; theirs were the sordid and smoky hut, 
in which without salt and witliout bread they 
broiled tlK goiy venison. 

If the mcchaiiic arts struck into existence the 
first spark which illumined the dark and dreary 
night of the savage state, they are no less useful 
in aiding die progress of civilization. Philoso- 
phy and literature are indebted to the mechanic 
arts for their high improvements and present 
state of perfection. In accompanying philosophy 
in her sublime researches they, like the wedded 
pair, arc bound to promote each other’s wclfiirc 
till death shall separate them ; theiiy indeed, there 
Is this dilfcrence, that the death-of one is the 
death of the otlicr. 

Strike the type-founder, the printer and the 
tnanufaclurers of paper and parchment, out of * 
the system, and wliat would become of the re¬ 
public of letters ? It is true writings might for 
a time be preserved in liindostan, where they 
engrave letters on the leaves of the palm tree; 
but these are of a perishable nature, and the tree 
%vhich bears these precious leaves does not flour¬ 
ish in every climate* Could ]Newton, a name 
which none can pronounce M’ithout the deepest 
veneration, could he have poured such a. flood df 


I 


li 


Tight into the regions of science, without tl)e 
help of the mechanic artscould Franklin 
^have extracted the electric fluid from the 
clouds, if the paper-maker and the 'manu¬ 
facturer of cordage had not furnished the 
materials for his kite ?...could Rittenhouse, with 
all his skill in astronomy, have constructed the 
orrery which has placed him among the sons of 
fame, if he had not served an apprenticeship to a 
cabinet-maker ?... could Bulfinchjwith all his the¬ 
ory of architecture, have placed the superb States 
house on Beacon-hill, if the mason and the car¬ 
penter had not been there ?...withdraw the axe, 
the hammer and the saw from the ship-yard, and 
where would you look for the commerce ot the 
world ? Let not this be represented as a partial 
view of the subject. With pleasure, and I may 
add with gratitude, we acknowledge the mutual 
obligations we are under. Allied to every thing 
that is of high estimation, we will support that 
rank which so evidently belongs to us ; but let 
us at the same time consider, that the improved 
state of the mechanic arts and of manufactures is 
derived from improvements in experimental phi¬ 
losophy, and from scientific men from the in¬ 
creased and still increasing light drawn fi om the 
schools, from academies and from universities 
—from pommcrcey wliich brings to every couii- 

t 

I * 

> » 


12 


fry ])!essecl with a free trade, .the inventions, ijiC 
artb, and ihe improvements of every other. I he 
mechanic and the manufacturer have ever felt the 
syinpatliics of relationship...in many things they 
are identified, in all things connected. V\'lv.it 
branch of manufactures can be established >\ ith- 
out the aid of the mechanic ? and there is none 
wliich can proceed a step in its course without 
his support—like the various ducts of the animal 
svstem in which the fluids oi life are conveyed, 
and without which they would be but a congeals 
ed mass, the mechanic arts are the channels 
through which life and activity are conveyed to 
the most productive manufacture. What though 
there may be some who from inattention do not 
acknowledge tliis, their inattention to this una¬ 
voidable connection no more operates upon the 
fact, than did tlie ignorance of the world respect- 
Sng that vital principle, the circulation of the 
blood, before it was discovered and published 
bv llarvcA'. 

Civil society", the cement of which is the mor- 

• * 

al virtues, must, like a superb anrl statelj' edi¬ 
fice, be built up and constructed with various 
parts and of divei's materials, ‘ fitly joined togeth- 
" er.’ I'he mechanic and manufacturer, the far.r 
mcr, the merchant, the professors of the liberal 
and of the fine arts, all these essentially conti ib^ 
tile to (onn tliat improved sUite of soekiy, which 


« 


\ 

% 9 i 


13 


alone can render our condition comrortahte and 
pleasing, and from which all our rational enjoy^ 
mcnts proceed. It is highly gratifying, and wor, 
tKv the benevolent mind, to view the connecting 

• • • o 

links of this golden chain, which binds the vari» 
pus interests to the public good; like the part^ 
pf tlie human body, none can say to the other, I 
have no need of thee. Not only the different 
trades, but all the different branches of the varu 
pus professions, and all the various subdivisions 
of the arts, are necessary to produce that state of 
society designed by our benevolent creator as the 
jf^esult of all our labors, that which shall induce 
lis to render homage to his name, or stand self, 
condemned for tlie deepest ingratitude. 

It was a wise and benevolent design of the Do- 
rty which, in providing for our mutual wants^ 
thus taught us our mutual dependence. Froiu 
this state of dependence none of our race are ex^ 
<empt. If there should have been a solitary in, 
dividual, wrapj>ed in the mantle of self-impor, 
lance, so weak as to say he was under no obliga, 
tion to a fellow-man, tlie experience of the next 
moment would teach him his delusion. 

. To review the rise and progress of manufao 
lures generally in this country, and contemplate 
tlie various causes which have at different periods 
accelerated or retarded that progress, would fur- 
' useful hiauuction; but 


14 


o\ir plan will not admit of more than even a cun 
sorv view ol'thc history of what arc called house- 
hold manufactures. 

The first emigrants from our parent countr}", 
knowing they v’ere to land in an uncultivated 
wilderness, and that many years must pass away* 
before their sheep or their flax would afford them 
sulRcient clothing, came provided with as large 
a supply as their circumstances would permit. 
Their first object was to raise provisions to car¬ 
ry them through the severe winters of this cli¬ 
mate, and for several years they found this a dif¬ 
ficult task. The size of the ships of these days, 
and their being crowded with passengers, left lit¬ 
tle room for cattle, and wlien they had obtained 
tiwm it was several years before they had oxen 
in sufticient nun^bers for the plough. Next to 
a supply of bread, their attention was turned to 
the subject of clothing. Their importations 
from Kurope could only be commensurate to 
their remittances, and these-were limited chiefly 
to skins which they purchased of the Indians.— 
They were compelled therefore to attend to the* 
raising wool and flax, and to household manu¬ 
factures, and many years witnessed their priva¬ 
tions before tliey obtained an adequate supply 
from this resource ; for, Mfter producing the ra,\v 
materials of which the flibrics^ were to consist^ 
tlicy had to construct the wheel and the loom^ 


15 


and then to learn the practical use of them; a bu¬ 
siness perhaps to which few of them had been 
accustomed in their native country ; but every 
passing year brought them nearer their desired 
object—and, in the ‘ever memorable year 1659,’ 
the first piece of cloth ever wove in what is now 
the United States of America, was manufactured 
in the town of Rowley, Essex county, Massa¬ 
chusetts. This was nineteen years after the first 
landing at Plymouth, and three years after the 
arrival of Roger Williams and his associates at 
this place. The attention of government being 
drawn to this object, its higli importance seemed 
to engross much of their deliberations, and vari¬ 
ous expedients tvere devised to induce every 
family to bring forth all their ingenuity and in- 
dustr)’, and to this ever)* indivickial was prompt¬ 
ed by their common feelings and mutual wants. 
Cotton was imported from the West-Indies, but 
the yearly increase of their flax and their wool, in 
consequence of a disposition to consider this as 
a test of patriotism, as tvell as a matter of the first 
necessity, gradually rendered the importation of 
cotton an object of less importance; and wc may 
judge of their care to increase the staple article 
of wool by tins circumstance, that wlien the In¬ 
dians burned the town of Warwick in this State, 
they destroyed or drove off from one farm only, 
200 sheep. 


u 


ftolisehold manufactures, began at first frnffi 
ceiisit}’’, were continued from habit, and fof 
more than a century a vast majority of the fam¬ 
ilies of New-England were clothed in the pro* 
ductlons of their own wheels and looms. Thclf 
importations from Europe were chiefly limited 
to books, stationary, hardware, and the tools of 
mechanics. 

At length, as the settlements in the southern 
colonies on the continent, and in the West-India 
islands, progressed, trade increased, and the prof¬ 
its of their circuitous commerce rested in Eng¬ 
land, in payfrient of the continually increasing 
amount drawn from that country. 

But the most rapid increase of supplies drarni 
from Europe, and consequent decline of domes¬ 
tic manufactures, arose about fifty years ago from 
a new source of wealth, the whale fishery. This 
furnished the means of remittance to a large a- 
inount,and established the credit of the importer, 
which enabled him to supply the country with 
clothing better finished, though not of equal tex- 
ture, with tliat furnished by our own looms.— 
,Household manufactures then gradually melted 
away in the increasing rage for more shew/ 
but less substantial fabrics. 

But let us not, as the friends of domestic man- 
iifacturcs, rashly denounce this increase of trade 
because it thus operated unfavorably on house* 


17 


hold icibor. It was in the desii^r.s of iineirinsr 
wisdom, that this people should be built up to a 
grcat and an independent nation ; and no one S 3 'S- 
tem of policy devised by human wisdom was 
equal to this purpose. Tn;dt/and commerce 
was to be a great auxiliary. Vs e can now per¬ 
ceive, that if commerce had not flourished, and 
if our importations of European manufactures 
had been restrained for several years preceding 
the American revolution, that revolution could 
not have happened. Our arms and military 
stores, including the duck which in the form of 
tents sheltered the American army from tlte pelt¬ 
ing storms, were the effects of this trade and ot 
these importations ; and the ability to feed and 
clothe that army, was derived in a great degree 
from the capitals acquired b}' commerce. 

l^eace on again revisiting our shores found us 
without commerce and without capital. \ ast 
forests remained even in the eastern States ; the 
ground they covered invited the hand of the cul¬ 
tivator, and the right of soil could be obtained for 
a trifle ; instead, therefore, of returning to do¬ 
mestic manufactures, a spirit of emigration sei 2 > 
ed the inhabitants of the old settlements, and our 
borders were extended to the northern lakes. 
Even the national line of demarcation did not 
restrain them, and Canada received an accession 

of thousands to her numbers. 

3 


18 


Another source of depression to the manufac¬ 
tures of our countr}*, was the conflicting interests 
and retaliatory measures produced by State jeal¬ 
ousy. Every State was an independent sove¬ 
reignty, and each State was considered by the 
adjGining Statejs as a foreign country. A man 
travelling to market, on arriving at the State 
boundary, was compelled to make report to an 
officer, prove the origin ofhis manufactures, and 
pay fees before he could be permitted to pass on 
the public highway. 'I'lic mechanics and manu¬ 
facturers, therefore, possessing that patriotism 
and those enlightened views which have ever dis¬ 
tinguished this portion of society, were zealous 
for the establishment of the federal constitution, 
and thereby transferring the attributes of sove¬ 
reignty from the individual Slates to a national 
government; and by their active co-operation 
with others of their fellow-citizens, a small ma¬ 
jority was obtained for concentrating the power 
and the strength of the continent under the na¬ 
tional compact. 

The manufacturers and artists soon felt the ad¬ 
vantage of the new system, and their experience 
of the utility of protecting duties, established in 
lieu of vexatious and restrictive regulations, has 
operated to identify their interests and views with 
this wise mcasurt of national policy. 


19 


But the time had not vet fully arrived to de- 
velope the latent powers and produciive opera¬ 
tions of the genius cf this people. The war 
vrhich has so long afilicted I’Luropc, and spread 
misery and desolation over some of its finest 
provinces, has enriched this country bv an ex¬ 
tensive and productive commerce ; but this har¬ 
vest, reaped on the fields of remote nations, is 
now gathered in, and it is proinible tircre yrili be 
but a pittance left for the hands of the gleaner.— 
The great capitalists, presaging this, are, there¬ 
fore, vesting their property in extensive and pro¬ 
ductive factories of cotton ; and the yarn wrougitt 
in such quantities by the various operations of 
machinery, now finds its way into every family ; 
and we hear the glad sound of the loom and the 
shuttle asAve pass the streets of the most opulent 
towns, or travel the road through the scattered 
villages. Thus we see, that although foreign 
trade, when its powers were feeble, supplanted 
household manufactures, yet that same foreign 
trade, when in its might and in its strength, has 
brought to our shores not only the complicated 
machinery, but the capital stock, to set all these 
wheels in motion; and instead of one loom 
which it rendered useless, it has produced an 
hundred on an improved plan, and which arc 
worked Avitli more productive skill. 


But ilic j^ciiius and cntcrpiizc of the iiorthcrri 
n:l ;n'rl ll c States will not be restrained to man¬ 
ufactures of cotton ; the time has arrived for 
maniiractnres in woolen to claim their share of 
j)ublic attention. 'J'hc fever of emii^ration to 
lie northern frontier lias abated, and the state of 
population in the a^rieultnral districts will soon 
admit of thonsiinds to be cmp!o}’cd in this pro¬ 
fitable and already progressing^ manufacture. 
TItc numerous flocks of sheei), which once 
covered the islands and shores of this State, were 
either carried olV bv the hostile fleets which in- 
fested the coast in the late war, or were served 

out as rations to our own militia, who were 

♦ * ♦ 

placed to prevent these depredations, and the 

farmers, till within a short time, neglected to re- 

• • 

new them ; but the scene is now changing, and 
not only the number but the kind of sheep, as it 
respects the quality of the wool, is considered 
with increased attention. 

I 

Next to Columbus, who gave them a new 
world. Cardinal Ximeiies is rcincfnbercd in Spain 
as their greatest benefactor, for introducing into 
that kingdom the sheep from Barbary : and in 
England, in atonement for the long and bloody 
wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, 
they can mention no circumstance of more im- 
jKirtaiice, than that of Edward the fourth obtain- 


QL 


ing an act of parliament for importing the Span¬ 
ish sheep, as from this mixture of tlie Spanish 
and English wool, the woolen manufactures of 
England liavc derived their high reputation, and 
the nation so much of its riches. Leift is the 
fourteenth patronized the woolen manufactories 
of France, and granted great privileges to the 
company of woolen drapers in Paris ; and before 
their revolution, the cloth of the roval manufac- 
tory of Sedan brought the highest price in every 
city in Europe. 

Mow estimable is that patriotism which clothes 
and warms a whole people ! This kind.of patri¬ 
otism soars as high above that of the political 
demagogue, as the eagle that takes her flight from 
the mountain top rises above die croaking reptile 
of the valley. Livingston, Humphreys, and 
Jacobs, by introducing the Spanish and Grecian 
sheep, have conferred greater benefits on this 
country, than ever could have been derived to it 
from all their military achievements or diplomatic 
skill, employed in the most successful political 
negociations. It is now sixty years since an 
Elector of Saxony introduced the Merino sheep 
into the north of Germany, and the wool still re¬ 
tains all its original excellence. From this cir¬ 
cumstance we have the strongest assurance, that 
the (juality will not degenerate in our climate; 
and that the cloth of Ncw-England will soon 


22 


equal that of Segovia herself in the days of her 
prosperity. 

The objection to establishing manufactures... 
that they will take off too many hands from agri¬ 
culture, derived its greatest weight and influence 
in France, from its having been made by the 
great Duke of Sully; and in our country it has 
been urged with greater success, from the state 
of our population compared with the extent of 
our territory ; but the experience of this coun¬ 
try has already evinced, that agriculture is in its 
greatest state of improvement, in those districts 
where manufactures are the most flourishing.... 
and, as has been already observed, the whole sys¬ 
tem of public economy insuring the greatest de¬ 
gree of private happiness in the social state, must 
be built up by the combined influence of agricul¬ 
ture, commerce, manufactures and the mechanic 
arts, under the cheering light of science and lit¬ 
erature ; and universal experience has proved 
that this combined influence can only operate 
with eflbct in a free countr}\ 

IN addressing this Association on the day of 
their annual meeting, the idea of the revolutions 
of time, and the changes produced in his swift 
career, necessarily fills and solemnizes the 
mind. Where are our early associates—thb 
founders of this institution ? Twenty-one years 






23 


has broke the social connexion here, and convey* 
ed many of them to the house appointed for all 
living; more than sixty are marked on our cata¬ 
logue as deceased. What an admonition is this! 
While here they performed a good work ; they 
joined with us in bringing forward this society, 
and in establishing its reputation ; they subscrib¬ 
ed to its funds ; many of them then in affluence, 
moved by the purest benevolence, contributed to 
the relief of others ; shall we not then look to their 
now destitute families, and extend an assisting 
hand ? Yes : you will make provision for their 
relief—and you must let advice and counsel, and 
friendly attention accompany pecuniary assist¬ 
ance. 

But there is a subject which this Association 
will ever have a right to contemplate with pleas¬ 
ure, and which may with peculiar propriety be 
noticed on our anniversary festival, as it cannot 
fail to heighten the joys excited by social affec¬ 
tions and mutual gratulation. The public 
schools in this town, in which more than 1000 
children are daily taught, owe their existence to 
3 ^our memorial presented to the General Assem¬ 
bly of the State. The schools were brought in¬ 
to existence under the auspices ofa public law ; 
but they stood on a surer foundation tlran the 
caprice of a six months legislature ; they stood 
on the solid base of equal right, and on the en- 



21 


lightened and liberal viewsof the citizens of Prov¬ 
idence. We are confident more than 3000 chil¬ 
dren have been taught in these schools, many of 
w hom are now settled in life; and from the ad¬ 
vantages derived from this public instruction are 
in prosperous circumstances. Their reputation 
and future respectability we hope will reflect high 
honor on your persevering exertions. 

The singular unanimity of the citizens of Prov¬ 
idence in bringing forward and supporting the 
schools in such high reputation, and cheerfully 
contributing to their support by adding the sum 
of 3500 dollars to the annual estimates for the 
current cxpences of the year, deserves the high¬ 
est culogium ; and this praise is the more justly 
due from the consideration, that iliis is the only 
town in the State where a just sense of duty re¬ 
siding in the breasts of individuals, is brought 
forth to operate in the body politic, in a matter 
of the first concern to the freedom and happiness 
of die community. 

While wc recognize our social connections, it 
is with pleasure that we can this day contemplate 
the fulfilment of that clause in the charter, which 
declares that this Association sliall have perpet¬ 
ual succession. This pledge does not stand 
singly in the contract between the State and the 
first associates, but in the presence of so many of 
the sons of members, who arc emulous to per- 


25 


petuate this institution...an institution to which 
every mechanic or manufacturer possessing a 
good name, and determined to preserve a fair rep¬ 
utation, may find admittance...an institution to 
which the sons of members arc admitted as to 
their father’s house, wdth higher privileges, and 
>vith peculiar regard...an institution which, w ith 

the increase of its years, and in its descent to fu- 

• 

ture time, will ascertain and pursue the most 
practicable means of insuring public and private 
benefit. In its descent through the lapse of 
years, it will sweeten, as it passes, the last mo¬ 
ments of decaying age, and brighten and cheer 
the prospect of feeble infancy. Thus shall the 
streams w'hich issue from the fountain of benev¬ 
olence be conducted through the medium of this 
institution, to refresh and enliven the abodes of 
sorrow; and gratitude and joy shall succeed to 
the widow’s sigh, and to the orphan’s tears ! 

Ye Sons of Mechanics ! O cherish the flame, 

“ And wide as the world difliise Charity’s name; 

“ Thus to your country new honors you’ll raise, 

“ And millions unborn will give incense cf praise. 

** Relief, O how grateful! how valued the prize, 

« To wipe off the tear from the widow’s sad eyes; 

“ Console her misfortunes, bid sorrows to cease. 

And pour in the balm, consolation and peace. 

For Tins we united.. ..our hearts still approve..,. 
“ Relief is our charter, cemented by love !’’ 


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